


we are the disenchanted

by Sway



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Apocalypse (2015)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-12 01:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7078504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sway/pseuds/Sway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You are leaving again.” -- “Reading my mind again, Charles?” -- “No need. I know you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are the disenchanted

**Author's Note:**

> just a tiny drabble that wouldn't let go after the movie
> 
> the title is from “White Knuckles” by Alter Bridge

The chessboard between them remains untouched. With one black tower and the white king forever lost in the rubble there’s no point in playing. Besides, it has never been a fair game to begin with. Not for them.

“You are leaving again.”

“Reading my mind again, Charles?”

“No need. I know you.”

Erik smiles. It is a knowing smile, too. And tired. Always tired. 

“In any case,” Charles continues, “I have to thank you.”

Erik eyes him questioningly. “What for?”

“Saving my life.”

“Jean did.”

Charles shakes his head, smiling. “No, I mean this.” He gestures around the room. “Rebuilding this school. That’s my life.”

“That was mostly Jean, too. I am only a half-decent welder.”

“Just accept my gratitude, Erik. For a change.”

Slowy, Erik nods. “It only seemed right. I was the first student here after all.”

Charles looks away from him, his weary smile saying the “and my first failure” louder than his voice ever could.

“It was you, you know,” Erik says into the thick silence. “In Cairo.” He taps against his temple. “In here.”

“You wore your helmet. You couldn’t have heard me.”

Once again that smile. Still tired but a fraction more genuine. “I heard you twenty years ago. Out there.” He nods in the direction of the garden. “But now listened. And I understood.”

“A little slow on the uptake, aren’t we?” Charles’ own voice betrays him, sounds frayed around the edges, almost breaking. “I always knew…”

“That there’s no point in having these powers if there is no one’s ass left to kick,” Erik interrupts him. Saves him.

“Exactly.” Charles pauses, then tries again, “I always knew you’d come to realize your true potential.”

“That’s just like you, Charles. Always hoping against hope.”

“Not against hope. That would be the easier task.” Charles regards him for a long moment. “I was hoping against you.”

“All the more reason for me to go.” Erik exhales a long breath, rising from his seat. When he is only met with Charles’ patience rather than the quest for answers, he continues, “if I stay... you will come to mean more to me than I can bear to lose. And then there will be no one left to stop me.”

A slow smile creeps on Charles’ lips and he nods in understanding. “You will always have a home at this school And I will always be here, Erik. It’s always going to be you and me.” His smile turns into a full-fledged grin. “Until we’re old and grey.”

Erik meets his grin and for a moment, he looks twenty years younger, almost boyish. “At least one of us will be.”

“Hey, I can pull it off,” Charles says in mock offense, “I have an expressive face.”

“And an impressive ego to match.”

“Will you come see me before you leave?”

Erik sobers again. “Don’t I always?”

Charles nods solemnly. “Don’t make it goodbye.”

Erik doesn’t reply, can’t promise. He walks to the door but stops with his hand on the handle. When he speaks, his voice is very quiet, almost inaudible. “Wait for me.”

“Don’t I always?”


End file.
